Improvement in looms



' UNITED STATES PATENT Ori-ica EDWARD WRIGHT AND BENAIAH FITTS, 0F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN LOOMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42,812, dated May 17, 1864,

To alwhom/ it may concern.-

Be it known that we, EDWARD WRIGHT and BENATAH Furs, both of the city and county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looms; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,making a part of this specification, in which- Figure lis a front elevation of the loom. Fig. 2 is a plane. Fig. 3 is an end elevation, and Fig. 4is across-section, taken immediately within the frame and looking toward the opposite end. The general purpose of our improvements is to enable the loom to be worked with a much greater rapidity than is practicable in looms as usually constructed, and they are based upon the following considerations In the common loom the shuttle remains in the shuttle boxes from one-half to three-fourths of the time, during which the beating` up of the lay and the other operations of the loom take place, and, as the shuttle is usually thrown with about as great velocity as is practicable, it follows that in order to give the loom a much greater rapidity of operation the time employed in beating up the weft must be shortened, so that the throws of the shuttle may follow each other with a shorter interval between them but with a lay of the usual construction, carrying with it the shuttle-boxes and picking apparatus and their accessories, the weight is so great that a rapid reciprocation is impossible. To avoid this difficulty We make the lay as light as possible, and have suicient strength to carry the reed and beat up the weft, and we divest it of the shuttleboxes, picking apparatus,and their accessories, so that the reciprocating parts are reduced to a minimum in weight. The lay is driven by an arrangement of machinery that will be hereinafter described, which is particularly adapted to give the rapid reciprocation desired, and other modifications of structure are also adopted to carry out this general plan of operation.

The irst part of our improvements relates to the construction of the shuttle-boxes; and it consists in making the sides of the same movable in the direction of .the movement of the lay and held in their ordinary (working) position by weights or springs, so that if the movement of the lay takes place while the shuttle is partly within the boxes the sides of it will yield and the loom will not be broken.

The second part of our improvements also relates to the construction of the shuttle-box when detached from the lay 5 and it consists in placing the binder that acts upon the protector77 at the back or outer end of the shuttlc-box so far that the shuttle shall be entirely clear of the lay before it can act upon the binder, so that, in case the shuttle shall fail to enter the box and be clear of the lay, that the protector will operate and stop the loom.

The third part of our improvements relates to the manner of operating the lay, by which a suitable rapid beating-up motion may be imparted to it; and it consists in detaching from the lay the shuttle-boxes and all extraneous weight that can be dispensed with, and working it by an intermittent crank-motion, which crank-motion is derived from a suitable arrangement of cams upon the cam-shaft of the loom, or in some other manner equivalent thereto, as will be hereinafter described.

The fourth part of our improvements relates to the construction of the picking apparatus, so called, or the apparatus by which the shut.- tleis thrown; and it consists i n the employment of a picker-statiA having a i parallel motion,77 so called, or having` the part that acts upon the shuttle or driver movein a line parallel to the race, in which the power is applied to it through the radius-bar, which receives its motion directly from a cam suitably arranged upon the main shaft of the loom, as will be described.

The lifth part of our improvements consists vin the employment, in combination with the cam shaft, ofthe loom or other convenient part of a device, by which the loom may be turned forward by the hand or foot of the operator, which is rendered necessary by the method employed of working the lay in order to more conveniently handle the loom in tending it..

The sixth part of our improvements relates to the manner of combinin g the protector,77 so called, with the shipper, by which the loom is stopped when the shuttle fails to enter the box audit consists in so constructing the shipper and connecting it with the protector that the clutch on the driving-shaft is disengaged from the driving-pulley by the direct action of the protector, instead of 'having the shipperhandle released merely by the action of the protector and the clutch disengaged by a spring or other extraneous device.

In the accompanying drawings many ofthe parts of the loom are omitted, and only those parts are represented to which our improvements more particularly relate.

A is the frame of the loom, in its general character similar to those in common use.

B is the main shaft, upon which the cams are arranged, as shown, which actuates the several moving parts of the loom.

C is the lay. Itis made about as long as the space inside of the frame of the loom, and its lower rail is made of a sufcient breadth to form a race for the shuttle, as is usual, excepting thatit is made unich thinner than is usual, and the lay is in all parts made as light as possible and have sufficient strength to sustain the reed and beat up the weft. Ihe reed is secured to the lay in any of the usual methods. The swords of the lay arealso made much shorter and lighter than is usual,and are mounted upon the shaft (l ,which is hung upon the frame much nearer the front than is usual, by which means the reed, when it beatsup the weft, bears against the cloth close to the race, so that by clamping the reed to the lay at the bottom alone the top rail of the lay may b3 made very light or entirely dispensed with.-

D D are the shuttle boxes, which are made separate from the lay, and are permanently fixed to the frame ofthe loom in such a position that when the lay is at its backward limit of motion the shuttle-race will be in an exact line with them. In receiving and delivering the shuttle they operate in the usual manner. The sides a a. of the boxes, instead of being permanently attached to the bottom, as is usual, are made to swing outward on joints at b and b', and they. are held in their usual working position by the springs cando', which press upon the outside ot' the sides ct a' and hold them against suitable stops, as is shown in the drawings. The purpose of this mode of constructing the boxes is to prevent breaking the loom when the lay moves, in case the shuttle should at that time be partly in the box and within the range of movement of the lay. The outer end of the front side of the box is formed of a separate piece, d, and the free or inner end of it is provided with a tenon, which, passing through the side a. of the box near its joint, bears against the arm g of the protector, which is pressed inward by the spring e. The pieces d perform the function of the binder in ordinary shuttle-boxes and bear upon the protector-arm g in the usual manner, so that the loom will be stopped when the shuttle is not properly boxed; but they are distinguished from the usual mode of construction by being placed at the back end of the box and at such a distance that the shuttle will be entirely clear of the lay before it will operate upon the protector. This construction is important when the shuttle boxes are detached from the lay.

The shuttle is driven by the picker-staffs F, which have a parallel motion,77 so called, and -Work without pickers. The picker-'staffs are jointed at their lower ends to the links Gr, which are jointed to the brackets H upon the frame of the loom. The pieker-staii's are also jointed to and suspended upon the radiusbars I, which are attached to the front end of long boss on the bracket K, which is secured to the frame. Upon the opposite or back end of the shaft .I is attached a short arm, L, at about a right angle to the radius-bar, upon the outer end of which is a roller, f, which rests upon the cam E upon the outer end of the main shaft B, by means of which the pickerstaffs are actuated. The weight ofthe arm L and roller f, when released by the cam E, carries the picker-staffs back to the position shown in the drawings. This mode of arranging the picker-cams upon the outer end of the main shaft and outside of the frame of the loom is of great utility, as it applies the power directly to the picking apparatus without the intervention of the straps or other connections that are usually employed when the picking-cams are placed within the frame of the loom, and may be used whether the picker-staffs have the parallel motion or not.

driven back and forth. It is mounted in bearings upon the frame, and has a light crank at each end, from which connecting-rods lead to each end of the lay. The shaft M is rotated by means of two straps or belts, N N', wound around the shaft in opposite directions, and each of which leads down and is connected to a lever or treadle, O O', which has its fulcrum the drawings. These levers O are alternately depressed by the cams P Il on the main shaft, which act upon the levers at the point p, and this rotates the crank-shaft alternately in opposite directions. The cams P P are so formed as to give a rest to the levers at each alternapass across the race. All the rest of the time can be occupied by the alternations of the lay. The diameter of that part of the shaft M upon which the belts N wind and the amount of movement of the treadles O are so adapted to each other as to give just an entire revolution to the crank-shaft by each alternation of the levers O. rlhe point of rest of thecrank-shaft is when the cranks are at the back dead-point and the lay is back in a line with the shuttle boxes, as is shown in the drawings. By this means a rapid reciprocating movement is imparted to the lay with the least possible shock and with a rest intervening between each double stroke or reciprocation for the passage of the shuttle across the race. Q is the protector-shaft, which has at its extreme ends the arms g, upon which the binders d of the shuttle-boxes act, and in its combination with short shafts J, each of which works through a M is the crank-shaft by which the lay is at the back side of the loom, as is shown in tion just long enough to permit the shuttle to the shuttle-boxes it acts in the same manner as the protector in a loom of the usual construction, excepting that it is mounted upon the frame of the loom instead of the lay. Upon the shaft Q, within the frame, is an arm, t',

' extending horizontally toward the lay upon beam upon which the protector-nger j actsl when required. The lever R extends upward to a convenient height and terminates in a handle, and its opposite end extends downward and works the clutch-lever T, which works the friction-clutch U, by which the main shaft is put in rotation from the driving pulley V, which revolves loosely7 upon it. The lever T has its fulcrum at l and works on the hub of the clutch U in the usual manner. At its opposite end it rests upon the bracket m upon the frame, and is provided with a diagonal slot, as shown, in which the lower end of thc shipper-lever works. In the bracket m is anotherslot, immediately under the irst, which is parallel to the plane of rotation of thelever R, through which the lever R also extends. By means ot' this arrangement, when the handle of the lever R is pushed toward the shuttle-boxes its lower end, acting' in the diagonal slot ofthe lever T, causes it to vibrate laterally and forces the cone of the clutch into the pulley and starts the loom, and a reverse operation stops it in a perfectly obvious manner. So long as the shuttle enters the box properly the arm of the protector holds the nger j above the arm k on the shi pper-shaft, so that it shall not hit the arm as the lay reci procates, but when it fails to do so the tingerj hits the arm k and throws the shipper-lever to the opposite end of the slot in the lever T, which withdraws the clutch and stops the loom,which is done instantaneously because the movement of the lay directly effects the disengagement of the clutch. This is an important feature in this respect on account of the rapid movement of the lay.

W is a treadle, which turns upon a fulcruin at n. Upon the frame, and to its innerend, is jointed a pawl, g, which extends upward and works in the ratchet X, which is tted to the main shaft. lt is held in the position shown in Fig. 4 by the spring o, in which position the paw] is entirely disengaged from the ratchet; but if the outer end ot' the treadle is depressed by the foot, or otherwise, the pawl rises, and, enga-ging with the ratchet, turns the shaft partly round, and by repeating the operation the motion ot' the loom may be continued. Its purpose is to enable the operator to move the loom. the small distances required in the various operations of tending it. Y Y are the cams which work the harness or heddles in the usual way.

From this description it will be seen that the mode of operation of the loom is much modified as regards the time and character of its several movements, and upon this modification the ability of the loom to work with greater rapidity depends, irrespective of the devices employed, to give those movements. Therefore various modifications of the machinery maybe employed in the several parts, as we have already contemplated, to carry out this mode of operation; but the mechanism before described we have tried with good success in a working-loom, and have therefore represented it as an embodiment of our invention.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. We do not claim making the shuttle-boxes separate from the lay and attaching them to the frame, as that has already been done; nor do we claim making the front side of the shuttlebox movable, as that has also been done; but we claim the combination and arrangement of the movable front, the movable back, and the outer part or binder, d, with the stationary bottom to form a shuttle-box, substantially as described.

2. We do not claim the employment, in a shuttle-box, of a binden7 so called, to enable the shuttle to operate upon the protector, as that is an old and well-known device; but we do claim the placing the binder at the back or outer end of the shuttle-box at a distance sufficient to enable the shuttle to be clear of the race before it acts upon the binder, when the shuttle-boxes are detached from the lay, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

3. Operating the lay by an intermittent crank motion, substantially as described.

4. We do not claim the employment of a picker-staff havin g a parallel motion, by which the end of the stati' that drives the shuttle is made to move in a line parallel to the race, as that has also been heretofore done; but we do claim applying the power to work the picker-staff to the radius-bar of the parallel motion, substantially as described; and we also claim the arranging of the picker-cams upon the outer ends of the cam-shaft extended beyond the outside of the loom, so as to work in direct combination with the arms of the ing-pulley, or its equivalent, by the direct action of the lay, substantially as described.

7. The combination, in a loom, of the light detached lay, operated substantially ns described, the detached shuttle-boxes mounted upon the frame of the loom, and a suitable picking apparatus so arranged in relation to each other and to the other mechanism of the loorn as t0 give the relative movements dcscribed, by which a greaier rapidity of Working is obtained, substantially as described.

Executed at Worcester this 16th day of January, 1864.

EDWARD WRIGHT. BENAIAH FITTS.

Witnesses:

- S. J. PALMER.,

'HENRY A. D RURY. 

